Let’s Now Say Our Farewells to River Nile with this New Treaty of Cooperation

Khaemwese, the son of Ramesses 11 who is said to have grown up with Moses

One of the best stories I have ever read is that of Moses. Born in Egypt as a slave at a time when Egyptians were worried about the growing population of Jews in the country, Moses was lined up to be killed as an infant. It was an order by the Pharaoh to exterminate all male children born to Jews to check the increase of Hebrew.

But Miriam – Moses’ sister – under instruction from her mother, took baby Moses, placed in waterproof basket, to hide him in the reeds in the waters of the River Nile. Moses was, as the story goes, found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, taken to the palace and brought up as a prince, knowing all the wisdom, art and skills of Egypt. Moses, named after the waters of River Nile, grew up to rebel against the Egyptian and eventually to turn the very wisdom, skills, knowledge and art that he had acquired against the benefactor and eventually to lead the Jews away from their enslavers.

This is an emotional story of courage, determination, bitterness and betrayal like no other. It is the basis of Jewish history, heavily borrowed by Moses from the Egyptian mythology, Judaism and Christianity, as well as Islam.

Egypt is widely regarded as the cradle of human civilization. And it’s all tied up with the River Nile. It was because River Nile is so fascinating that in Europe and America, it became a craze to reach the source of the river. Britain built a whole long railway line, the Uganda Railway in order the reach the source of River Nile and gave birth to a new country called Kenya along the way.

And that’s why I am saddened by the Nile River Treaty – the Co-operative Framework Agreement – by Nile Basin countries. The treaty has already been signed by Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. And reportedly, Burundi and DR Congo are lined up to sign. The other Nile Basin countries -Sudan and Egypt – are opposed to the treaty.

The treaty, according to those promoting it, is intended to put right some of the mistakes of earlier ones which gave Egypt the right to nearly all the waters of River Nile – in fact, 85%. Sudan was the other beneficiary in these earlier treaties. And unfortunately neither of these two countries concerns itself with the welfare of those who make great sacrifices to protect the sources of the waters of the Great Nile River.

My comments are, however not on merits or demerits of these treaties, but on their impact on human history. Kenya has already destroyed its own water resources. Famous lakes such as Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha and Lake Baringo, are already dying up due to unregulated human activity upstream. The government does next to nothing to intervene. The Ethiopia government is engaged in a heartless dam building escapade on River Omo that is threatening the culture, livelihood and history of the Turkana and the Rendile as Lake Turkana dries up. The Kenya government whose citizens are threatened does nothing.

Aren’t these reasons enough to fear, as some Kenyans are, that the same onslaught multiplied nine times over on the River Nile will certainly kill it within a few short years? Soon we will be reading about a river that used be called Nile while looking at the desert left behind. Lord, have mercy!

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Tags: countries of Nile Basin, countries using Nile water., Moses and the Nile River, Nile River and Christianity, Nile River and Islam, Nile River Co-operative Framework Agreement, the Nile River and human history